Monday, September 24, 2012

When I was a child, I once told my grandmother that I was
going to be a worrywart when I grew up. I probably didn’t know what that meant.
I was just repeating what someone else had said to me. Nevertheless, I have
surely lived up to that early aspiration.

I worry about a lot of things. I worry about whether I’m
doing my work well. I worry about whether I’m eating healthy enough, exercising
enough or saving enough money. I worry about my relationships with friends and
about my performance in the English Bible study I teach. I worry about the
things I hear on the news – political unrest, wars, a plunging economy and a
skyrocketing national debt.

All this worry understandably can leave me exhausted and
discouraged. That’s how I was feeling one evening last week when I watched a short
video by John Stonestreet.

The video talked about Christians engaging in culture,
something that I worry is not happening often enough or well enough. But it
ended on a note of hope and provided me with some much-needed perspective on my
problems.

“The story of the world [is] secure because of one thing
that can’t be changed: Christ has risen.”

The world may look like it's going downhill, but Christ is risen. No matter who wins the upcoming election, Christ is king. No
matter what happens to the economy, I serve a God who owns the cattle on a thousand
hills and who provides for His children. No matter how much our culture
degenerates, Christ has promised to return and make all things new. No matter
how helpless I feel speaking to my Bible study students, I serve a God whose Word
was powerful enough to create the universe, and it is still powerful enough to
bring new life to even the most resistant heart. I can and should work hard at
whatever I do, but when I have done my part, the results are in His hands.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Psalm 139: 9-10
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Wings of the Dawn
I've risen on the wings of dawn
To where the sunrise casts its rays.
I've settled on a distant shore
Where days are nights and nights are days.
I've wandered through these winding streets,
A twisting, multicolored maze,
Where subtle tones drop from each tongue,
Yet here I rest within Your gaze.

I wrote this while hiking this afternoon. The one thing I have to say is most of it is far more literal than it sounds. If you want the full explanation, check out my comment below.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

I have now been living in Taipei for one
year. For the most part, I love it here, but as with any place, there are a few
things I don’t like so much. So I plan to post a series about the best and
worst things for a foreigner living here. Each day I’ll cover two things I love and one
I don’t so I can keep things balanced. They are grouped based on themes, not
based on how strongly I feel about them.

Things I Like:

9. Awesome Foreigners

Expatriates
are a really cool group of people. Although there aren’t a lot of foreigners in
Taipei, we all tend to find each other because we tend to hang out at the same
places, work at the same jobs and have many friends in common. After all, it’s
easy to make friends with someone who speaks your native language and who shares
the joys and frustrations of trying to find their way through the maze that is
Taiwanese culture. But in many cases, our status as “Wai-guo-ren,” or foreigners, is almost the only thing we have in
common. This actually leads to many
interesting conversations, especially about the places we come from. For
example, I have learned more about South Africa in the past year than in all
the previous years of my life combined. In Taiwan, I’ve met people from Canada,
England, Holland, France, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Korea, Japan, New Zealand and probably a few other countries that are slipping
my mind right now. I’m learning a lot about different cultures – and not just
Taiwanese/Chinese culture.

Expatriates
are also interesting because they tend to have a broader perspective and more
travel experience than most other people. I haven’t visited many countries in
Asia, so I’m always fascinated to hear stories about other people’s travels and
to dream about all the places I’d like to visit. We live in such a big,
colorful, fascinating, diverse world, and living in even one country outside
your home can help you take in much more of it.

10. Awesome Locals

Taiwanese
people are incredibly friendly. I’m not just saying this because I’m used to cold,
aloof New Englanders – everyone I mention this to agrees with me. I pretty
regularly have people strike up conversations with me on busses or subways, at
restaurants and in shops. In most cases, they speak to me in English, which
could be caused by a desire to practice their English or an assumption that I
don’t speak Chinese, but I prefer to think of it as their way of being
hospitable. Once they find out where I’m from and how long I’ve been here,
people are always eager to hear what I think of Taiwan (especially the food).
They’ll ask if I miss home, give me tips about where to go and what to do, and
in some cases offer to help me out in some way. Of course I’ve had a few bad
experiences, but these were mostly cultural misunderstandings, and many of them
arose from people being a bit too
friendly.

The
Taiwanese are very polite; they wait in line and apologize if they
inconvenience you. I also feel very safe here. One time I dropped a small
wallet that had a little cash and my transportation card in a metro station. I
didn’t realize this for about ten minutes, but when I returned, someone had
turned the wallet in to the information desk. My card and all my money were
still there. Obviously, I don’t recommend leaving money lying around, but this
experience does say something good about Taiwan as a whole. That’s why when the
locals ask me what I like about Taiwan, I always respond “The food and the
people.”

Things I Don’t

5. Not Being at Home

In
spite of all the awesome people I meet in Taiwan, I can’t stop missing the
awesome people I left behind. Once in a while, especially when I’m tired after
a long day of work or other activities, I find myself thinking longingly of
eating dinner with my family, playing games with my brother or staying up late
playing cards, watching TV or having deep discussions with my college friends.
I guess that’s an inevitable part of living away from home, and in a sense I’m
glad of it. This lingering homesickness is proof that what I had back in
America was good and valuable and that it is still a deep part of who I am. It
would be very sad if I never looked back on the past, never missed my family,
never wanted to return to where I came from. That’s the hardest part of living
in Taiwan, and sometimes I think that if I could bring my loved ones here with
me, I would be perfectly happy. But I’m realizing that leaving some things
behind is an inevitable part of growing up, and that we need to keep and
treasure the good things in our past while we move on into the intimidating but
invigorating adventure that is our future.

About Me

I'm a Ph.D student at the University of Notre Dame studying Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity. I also have a BA from Brandeis University and an MTS from Notre Dame. After college, I lived in Taiwan and edited an English-teaching magazine. I love traveling and learning languages. I'm also fascinated with philosophy, which was one of my majors in college, and I write poetry, some of which I post on this blog. Most importantly, I am a sincere Christian. I believe that Jesus is God and trust Him to forgive my sins and enable me to live the life I was made to live.